Hasta La Gadget!

If you’re one of the lucky few — 1000 actually — who received an email today from Ceton you will have the ability to join its paid Extender beta this September. For $179 Ceton will ship testers an Echo Extender for Media Center before anyone else, but in return they need to help work out all the bugs in time for the release this holiday season. At that price the Echo isn’t a budget alternative to using an Xbox 360 as an Extender, but between the additional functionality realized when paired with the upcoming Ceton Q multi-room DVR and other features like HDMI-CEC and MoCA, it will probably be the clear choice for some — not to mention it didn’t take long for the InfiniTV 4 to drop $100 to $199, so this too should be cheaper at some point. Other news from Kirkland includes the fact that there’s additional info about the Q coming in September and that the Ceton Companion beta is going well enough that the mobile apps for Media Center will launch at the end of this month. We guess it’s a good thing for Media Center fans Ceton missed the memo from their neighbors in Redmond that Media Center is dead.

Filed under: Home Entertainment

Ceton Echo Extender for Media Center beta to start in September originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 15 Jul 2012 20:16:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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We know you’ve got questions, and if you’re brave enough to ask the world for answers, here’s the outlet to do so. This week’s Ask Engadget inquiry is coming to us from Is from Martin, who is looking for a hyper-efficient media streamer for his retro caravan. If you’re looking to send in an inquiry of your own, drop us a line at ask [at] engadget [dawt] com.

“My partner and I are renovating a small ’70s caravan and would like a power-efficient media center/PC purely to watch our library of movies and TV shows. We’re in Australia, so getting hold of kit like the Raspberry Pi would be difficult, we’re looking for something that’s equally power efficient, even up to $300 AUD (around $310 USD). Cheers!””

That’s this week’s challenge, Engadgeteers — do you feel up for it? Can you help our southern hemisphere friends find a power-efficient HTPC for under $310 that won’t drain a retro-caravan’s batteries? Can we help these people turn the temporary home into a rockin’ media-streamin’ paradise? Hit us up in the comments if you’ve got some expertise to share.

Ask Engadget: Best sub-$310 power-efficient HTPC for a caravan? originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 07 Jul 2012 22:59:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Winning gdgt’s StartUp contest has its perks — just ask recent winner Marquee, which is showcasing version 2.0 of its Media Center here on the showfloor. The imposing device, currently available on the outfit’s site for $899, packs 2TB of storage, 4GB DDR3 RAM, DVD player and a 2.4GHz dual-core Intel processor into an aluminum-lidded box to let you stream a mix of online and locally-stored multimedia content. Seen from above, the unit is mostly unadorned, save for a quite sizable power button, three circular vents and two notification LEDs. Off to the right side hiding just beneath that generous metal hood, lies ports for audio I/O and standard USB, with HDMI-out on the back.

Naturally, you need a way to parse through the goods and that’s where Plex XBMC — running atop Ubuntu 12.04 — and a custom wireless controller outfitted with a full QWERTY keyboard come in handy. According to Marquee’s CEO, set-up out of the box is a no-brainer and requires nothing more than connecting to an external display and your home network (via ethernet or WiFi) to get things started. We had the opportunity to take the Media Center for a quick test spin and immediately noticed a calibration issue that, combined with the cluttered remote, made for some extremely unintuitive navigation. You can check out some pics of the startup’s progeny below and, while you’re at it, click past the break to view a video demo of this pricey kit in action.

Continue reading Marquee Media Center hands-on (video)

Marquee Media Center hands-on (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 25 Jun 2012 18:37:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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